The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 27, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 08, 1994
Charles E Molnar, Webster Groves, MO (US);
Ian W Jones, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Ivan E Sutherland, Santa Monica, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
An arbiter circuit is described that is capable of granting a first user access to a shared resource while concurrently arbitrating subsequent requests from the first user to other users seeking access to the shared resource. The arbiter of the present invention includes a first arbiter element and a second arbiter element. The first arbiter element is initially used to arbitrate and issue a grant signal in response to one or more request signals from two or more users. The second arbiter element arbitrates and issues the next grant signal in response to subsequent request signal or signals from the one or other users. In one embodiment of the invention, the first and second arbiter elements are used alternately. In other embodiments, third and fourth arbiter elements are used to arbitrate in response to subsequent requests. The arbiter circuits of the present invention all reduce the delays in the access of users to the shared resource.